


Saving Persephone

by VampireBait



Category: L.A. By Night (Web Series), Vampire The Masquerade: LA By Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 16:16:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireBait/pseuds/VampireBait
Summary: Jasper likes puzzles, X’s vision of Strauss is one he is determined to figure out before its too late.Aka: i have things I need to write down or i’ll go nuts!





	Saving Persephone

Jasper was fond of puzzles. It wasn’t exactly a secret. Anyone who had known him in life would see him delighting in unravelling riddles or mysteries. His unlife was no different.

Well, he mussed, as he sat in his Haven staring at an elaborate board covered in pictures, the fondness had possibly morphed in obsession thanks to the beast inside him.  
The night was a quiet one. Eva had gone to see the Wyrd sisters and Jasper’s own Cotorie were handling the night to night business. They’d call him if he was needed, he hoped things didn’t get that bad for them that they had to call, but that seemed to be the way their nights went lately.

It was rare to be alone since he and Eva began their-whatever this was- He missed her presence even as he relished the time he could spend on a puzzle he had not yet told her he was working out.

The board before him was dominated by a sketch of a bald kindred, in red-tinted round rimmed glasses and an equally red crossed over shirt. Strauss stood above the city. His hands holding out a pomegranate and a skull.

The likeness was exactly as X had described in his vision.

Jasper had alot of experience with X’s visions. Too much, really, he’d gotten tired of failing to understand them until they’d manifested. What was the use of knowing the future if you couldn’t exactly KNOW it?!

Still, the visions were another type of puzzle. It was part of the reason he liked X. The challenge to unravel the metaphors from the literal and understand what was to come was, in a way, the ultimate puzzle.

Jasper had learned to wait for some of the vision to come to fruition then use that as a way to break the code contained in the rest.

This vision though, this one made him anxious. There was very little satisfaction in unraveling it but, it had to do with Eva. Possibly her fate overall. That made it take up his full and undivided attention.

He studied the picture of Strauss. Ramona had sketched it in exchange for a minor favour he knew he’d regret. It was good work, unsettling so in fact.

Jasper cracked the knuckles on his left hand flexing his skeletal fingers as his eyes fixed on the Pomegranate in Strauss’ hand. He absently rubbed his fingertips over the open page of the book in his lap. It was old, older than him but was the only one he possessed about Greek mythology.  
The woodcarving depicted a young woman screaming, reaching out for help as a man snatched her up from his chariot and carried her down a hole in the ground.

Hades abducting Persephone. At least the original myth of it. Lately, as he’d come to understand it, the story had been remade into a dark and tragic romance. The Goddess of Spring and Life, in love with the God of Death and their undying devotion to each other.

Jasper had to admit until he’d looked it up the latter had been the extent of his knowledge.

The pomegranate had brought that story to mind immediately and, while Eva was very obviously Persephone, Jasper had flattered himself for a moment, believing he was Hades. That was until he’d picked up his book on Greek myths. The real story, the original, was darker than the modern. A tale of Persephone’s anguish as she was dragged to the underworld and the pomegranate that Hades used to trap her with him. 

Jasper’s lips retracted from his fangs as he thought over the myth and the events of the last few nights. After a moment he rose and stood infront of the board, his eyes moving from the fruit in Strauss’s hand to a picture of Katya, Eva’s sire. His hand shook slightly as he lifted the pen and wrote “Pomegranate” above her sketch drawing a dark red arrow from her to the pomegranate in Strauss’ picture. The beast inside him snarled. 

It made sense...too much sense.

Jasper crossed his long legs under him, falling back with a thud into his sitting position on the floor his head in his hands as he fought to control the sudden panic in his chest.

There was more, he had to focus on the rest.

Slowly he looked over his fingers and forced himself to ponder the object in Strauss’ other hand. 

If what Strauss held in his hands were the tools he’d use to go after Eva, like Katya as the pomegranate, then it stood to reason the skull would be too.

He thought on the skull for a long moment.

He’d thought it was just a potent of death in the beginning…until the Wyrd sisters had handed Herman over. 

This was the thing about Malkavian visions, metaphor and literal bled in and around each other. Herman was a literal skull afterall. It was like being punched in the face by the vision.

If he was right, the Skull would most likely be the Sister’s.

Kyoko’s new blue hair and eyes flashed in his mind. 

Yes, he was certain. Strauss was using her, but how? Sudden panic made the beast in his chest snarl. Eva was with the sisters right now.

He tried to calm himself. Strauss seemed like a man who liked to play the long game. 

Patiently. 

He wouldn’t rise up from a chasm under Eva’s feet and carry her off in a black chariot. 

No, he needed Katya to work her angle first.

If X’s vision was right and Jasper was interpreting it correctly, at least until something else showed up to change his perspective once more, then Strauss intended to keep Eva, and she was perhaps strong enough that he wouldn’t be able to unless she made the decision to stay. 

Thanks to X, Jasper at least knew the main components of Strauss’ plan even if not the specifics.

The solution was simple. Step one. Free Kyoko from whatever Strauss had done to her. Step two: deal with Katya.

Perhaps not so simple really, but it was a start.

Jasper uncrossed his long legs stretching out his bones until they cracked and popped loudly. The board he carefully concealed beneath on of the bookshelves in his library.

He’d show Eva eventually but didn’t want he to stumble upon the picture of Strauss if she was not prepared for it.

Grabbing his hoodie he headed out into the night towards his Persephone, and the Wyrd Sisters.


End file.
